The present invention relates, in general, to a track assembly for pull-out members, such as a drawer for a piece of furniture or an oven tray for cooked food, and relates in particular to a track assembly of a type including a stationary guide rail and a runner movable with respect to the guide rail in an operating direction between extended and retracted positions, and coupled to a pull-out slide member.
Track assemblies of varying types for use in different fields of application are generally known and used. In general, conventional track assemblies attempt to create an extremely smooth travel between the runner relative and the guide rail. Therefore, manufacturers continuously aspire to provide track assemblies with especially smooth sliding action. As a consequence of the smooth sliding action of conventional track assemblies, the incorporation of a damping mechanism and a stop mechanism for restricting the travel motion becomes necessary, i.e. conventional track assemblies should be equipped with means that attenuate the smooth run shortly before reaching the final retracted position when the slide member is returned, to thereby avoid a hard impact in the final retracted position. These types of dampers oftentimes further assume the task as stops, i.e. that the guide rail, after rolling over or sliding over the damper mechanism, is safeguarded against unwanted disengagement, as disclosed, for example, in German Pat. No. DE OS 33 29 541.
Outside these areas of damping and stopping, the conventional track assemblies are designed to exhibit an extremely smooth run. However, there are circumstances when a smooth run, as realized heretofore, is not that desirable and even unacceptable in some extreme situations. An example of such a situation includes the use of track assemblies in oven trays for a baking oven. In these cases, when e.g. the oven is not placed on an even floor and has therefore even only a slight forward tilt, the oven tray carrying the hot food may slide out by itself upon opening of the access door. Although, it may be conceivable for situations like this to provide track assemblies that exhibit a more sluggish run; However, this would make it necessary for the manufacturer to provide different product lines and thus to produce different types of track assemblies to meet varying types of applications.